The Colour of Laughter
by Redd Handprints on my wall
Summary: Series 10 starts as usual, Vaughan's sons arrive, but something is different, this time, Leo is deaf. Read on as the family and school come to terms and struggle to cope with this kid.
1. Chapter 1

Bonjour!

**THE COLOUR OF LAUGHTER.**

**I have just re-watched Waterloo Road series 10 episode 1 about a million times just to make sure that I have got most of the underlying details correct. So, I hope that you enjoy it:**

**Chapter 1: **

Head teacher of Waterloo Road school- Vaughan Fitzgerald walked into his new office after having just been told, in front of every other member of staff, including his girlfriend, that his wife was in there.

Upon walking into the room, Vaughan saw Olga. Her dark brown hair was messy and dishevelled, her face blotchy and swollen whilst her eyes were red and puffy.

Olga stood up on Vaughan's entrance, slowly stepping forward a little bit to make herself seem sincere.

Almost instantly, Vaughan felt his younger son, Leo, wrap his arms around him. He could clearly see that the boy was crying. Worried, Vaughan lightly kissed Leo's head to show that he cared.

"It's ok." Vaughan comforted the boy as he sat him down onto the arm of the settee. Vaughan made sure that Leo could see his dad's face as he said those words just to make sure that he knew what was being said.

"What's happened, why are you here?" Vaughan questioned Olga, not quite understanding why his wife and kids had suddenly turned up out of the blue.

"You didn't tell him we were coming?" Vaughan's older son Justin asked his mum accusingly.

Olga looked back up at her husband "I can't do this anymore Vaughan." She repeatedly shook her head as if she was trying to convince herself of this more than anyone else.

Vaughan looked over to his children. Leo was still sobbing and Justin was just watching him, angry at him. "Boys," Vaughan made sure to both talk and sign at the same time "can you give your mum and me a few minutes together." But he was cut off by an estranged Olga.

"If you've got something to say, you owe it to your sons to let them hear it." She challenged.

"Olga, this is not appropriate."

"Don't worry; I'm not here to cramp your style on your big first day!" Olga paused "I'll be gone soon, but their staying here with you." She motioned towards Justin and Leo.

To say he was shocked would be a major understatement. Vaughan hadn't seen either of his sons in well over six months and all of a sudden he was here, about to have them live with him. "What?!"

"I can't cope anymore, I'm at my wits end." She began, tears now beginning to leak out of her eyes.

"Why can't you come home with us dad?" Justin intervened, standing up "You should be at home with us. You're our dad, not theirs."

Olga was raging now "How can you walk out on your own children to shack up with someone else's?"

"I have not walked out on them!" Argued Vaughan. "I am here for you whenever you need me." He signed the last part too.

"Here for you!" Screeched Olga, now really mad "you're bloody miles away, how does that work?" She sniffed back some tears "Face up to what you've done."

"Olga. Take the boys home." Vaughan said, slowly as if he was trying hard to make it his last argument.

"I'm not going home!" Continued Olga "My doctors booked me into a clinic. I can't eat, I can't sleep, I'm having anxiety attacks!"

Justin walked over to his mum, closely followed by Leo. Both of them put their arms around their mother.

Olga still continued her rant "I'm on the edge of a complete nervous breakdown! Are you happy now?!" She screamed towards her husband.

Vaughan was flabbergasted, he had never known that that would happen. Olga had always been such a down to earth and grounded type of person, yet here she was, bawling her eyes out in his office.

Seeing a chance, Olga pushed her sons off her, picked up her handbag, and marched straight out of the door.

"OLGA!" Shouted Vaughan, running after her.

"MUM!" Shouted Justin, him too running after her.

Leo just stood there, unknowing as to what really was happening around him.

He saw a lady; she was shorter than him, wearing tight clothes and a lot of make-up. She seemed nice enough.

Sonya walked into the room "Is everything alright?" She asked the boy who stood in the middle of the head teacher's office.

Leo didn't know what she had just said, he didn't know that she had even spoken at all, he just kept staring at the door which his family had just run out of.

He felt her hand gently patting him on the right shoulder and he looked up at her.

"Are you ok?" Sonya asked him.

Leo squinted and bit his lip. _'I can't hear you' _he signed in return.

Sonya seemed to get the picture as she immediately began saying sorry over and over again.

Leo looked at her, confused.

After that, Sonya seemed to get an idea as she disappeared for a moment, before re-emerging from her desk with a pair of whiteboards and pens.

She offered one to Leo, who gladly accepted.

'Are you ok?' She wrote in her happy, bubbly writing, which no doubt matched her happy go lucky personality.

Leo just shrugged.

Sonya thought for a few seconds before writing- 'Do you fancy a drink?'

Leo nodded this time.

Sonya smiled and walked off into the staff room next door to find the squash.

…

Christine Mulgrew walked over to Sonya's desk.

"Aaawww! Hi Christine, good holiday?!" Asked Sonya perkily.

"Urm, settling into Audrey's took a bit of getting used to, but um, yeah." She replied as she looked through the window of the head master's office. Her old office.

She looked down at Sonya, and then signalled to the boy on the other side of the window.

"Oh, Leo." Sonya said, a little less brightly, "Fitzgerald."

Christine looked curious as she slid her hands into her pockets and walked up to the open door of the office.

"Hi Leo!" She greeted, happily.

But Christine was met with silence.

"Urm Christine." Interrupted Sonya.

"What is it Sonya?" Asked the older woman.

"Leo can't exactly, um hear you." She told Christine.

Christine nodded, thinking back to Imogen.

Just then, the door opened and Vaughan walked in closely followed by Justin who pushed past both his dad and Christine to sit down opposite his brother.

"Mrs Mulgrew!" Challenged Vaughan.

"Oh, um I was just checking to see if Darren Hughes had called in sick this morning?" Wondered Christine.

"Urm, no." Sonya replied.

Christine then exited the office, back to her classroom.

Sonya then stood up, addressing Vaughan, "Urm Leo's really upset Mr Fitzgerald."

Vaughan opened his mouth, slightly shocked that she had managed to get through to his younger son. "Yes, well the boys will be spending the day here, whilst we decide what's best."

Sonya Nodded at this.

"So can you please bring in the timetables?" Finished Vaughan.

"I TOLD YOU, I DON'T WANNA BE AT THIS SCHOOL!" shouted Justin.

Vaughan sighed "I am sorry to have caused so much hurt" he began, signing and talking "But mum is going to get the best help there is and you are going to have to stay here for now. So, let's just see if I can start to make things up to you?"

Sonya knocked on the door, timetables in hand.

"I thought that maybe you could join some classes?" Vaughan suggested.

Neither child, bearing in mind Justin now had his headphones in, replied.

_'__Leo?'_ Vaughan signed his son's name.

Leo quickly shook his head and looked down. Vaughan sighed, then hesitated.

_'__Leo?'_ He signed again, quickly patting his son on the shoulder grab his attention.

_'__Where are your hearing aids?' _He signed.

Leo bit his lip, before digging his hand into his blazer pocket and pulling out a pair of hearing aids. They had clear blue earmolds and the rest of them were clear red.

_'__Put them in.'_ Vaughan ordered.

Leo sighed, but did as he was told, turning them on as he did so.

It wasn't as if they really helped, they just allowed him to hear little sounds, only very quietly, besides, Leo preferred not having them in, it made people stare.

**Ok… so I know that most of that was in fact waterloo road's own plot line, but after the first few chapters, it will all be my own ideas. I just need to get Floyd and Tiffany meeting Justin and Leo for the first time in the corridor and that fight out of the way first. **

**Please R&amp;R, this is my first fanfiction. :/ **

**Also, if anyone can think of what Leo's signing name should be, please comment it. My favourite one wins!**

**J**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here I am- back for more. I hope that you all enjoy it! :D**

**Please R&amp;R. xxxxx**

Chapter 2:

Allie Westbrook didn't know how to feel. On the one hand she was excited to finally meet Vaughan's kids, but on the other hand, she was angry too, annoyed at Vaughan for letting something like this happen with such short notice.

As she walked through a corridor, she saw her daughter. "Tiffany!" Greeted Allie.

Tiffany looked confused as she turned around to come face to face with her mum.

Just as Allie's son Floyd came up to them. "Oh Floyd!" Allie said, happy to have caught both of her children at once "So far so good?" She asked.

"Well, yeah. Urm, I like history, Miss McFall, um." Floyd trailed off.

"Well good!" Answered Allie, a little over-enthusiastically. "Well kids, I've got some, um news for you." Allie felt her smile drop slightly as she said the latter part.

Tiffany looked up at Floyd, "I knew something was up."

"Vaughan's sons are coming to stay with us, so you'll finally get to meet them." Allie continued, looking to and from each of her children so as to see both of their reactions.

"How long for!?" Asked Tiffany in amazement, the shock was clear on her face.

"Just a short while, their mum's not well."

"What's wrong with her?" Tiffany fired back.

Allie swallowed "Um, not sure" She hesitated "But the important thing is that we make Leo and Justin feel really welcome."

"Yeah, course." Floyd agreed looking from his mum, down to his sister.

"They've been through a lot." Allie added, keeping her gaze firmly fixed on Floyd. "And it's not going to be easy coming to live with us." She smiled.

"No one's forcing them, are they!?" Tiffany said

"Tiffany, you and Floyd have got to be really mature about this." Allie told her, a more serious tone now in her voice. "Help us out. Yeah? The boys have had a real shock."

Tiffany still didn't smile, as she sighed and pushed past her mum, dragging Floyd by the wrist behind her.

"I'll see you later." Floyd added to his mum as he descended down the stairs.

Allie looked up to see Vaughan approaching her.

…

Floyd and Tiffany Westbrook pushed open the doors in the middle of a corridor and continued through.

"Look Tiffany, I don't like this any more than you do, but I think that we should all just try and get on. Yeah?" Floyd told his sister "Do it for mum, she's really happy right now."

"I suppose." She agreed. "Do you think Vaughan's going to be different to us, now that his sons are moving in?" She questioned.

The two of them stopped walking and stood, opposite each other to continue their conversation.

"I hope not." Replied Floyd "I'm sure we'll be fine." He reassured.

Tiffany looked up and saw some boys in green blazers, not the waterloo road uniform. "That's them." She told Floyd. "Come on."

The pair walked over to the boys.

"Hi, are you Justin and Leo?" Tiffany asked as they got close to the other two.

The taller boy looked at them, boredom clear on his face. The one with glasses couldn't even be bothered to look up.

"Yeah." Justin answered gruffly after a few seconds. He then reached over and tapped Leo on the shoulder.

"We're Allie's children- I'm Tiffany." Tiffany pointed to herself "And this is Floyd." Tiffany pointed to her brother who waved in return.

Leo waved back.

Justin began to walk away, and Leo, seeing his brother leave started to follow.

"Look mate, we're both really sorry about your mum." Reasoned Floyd.

"Yeah, you must be dead worried about her." Added Tiffany.

Justin looked angered at their comments. "We don't want your pity." He responded "Just leave us alone." Then, turning to Leo he nodded "Come on Leo."

Leo, getting the idea, started to follow after his brother.

Justin began to slow down, so Leo copied, soon both of them slowing to a halt. Leo looked around and saw that Tiffany and Floyd had run after them.

"Listen man, it's not our fault she's not well okay. And I think, the best thing to do in this situation is just try and get on, because we're gonna both be living in the same house and it's best for all of us if…" Floyd was cut off

Leo might not have been able to hear what Floyd was saying, but he could tell that Justin was angry. This theory was proven when suddenly his brother span around and punched Floyd square in the face.

Floyd then rammed his head into Justin's chest and rammed him forwards into a locker.

Leo tried to grab hold of Justin's sleeve, but the older boys had already tackled each other to the ground, throwing punches this way and that.

Not knowing what to do, Leo stepped backwards into line with Tiffany, who shared his confused expression.

…

"Okay everybody!" Vaughan clapped his hands together as he entered the counselling room. He was closely followed by Allie, who upon her entrance closed the door behind her.

Floyd and Tiffany looked up and Justin signed to Leo that their dad was there.

Vaughan made sure that he had everyone's attention, especially Leo's.

"We all got off to a bad start this morning." Started Vaughan, making sure to sign as he spoke, despite the strange look that Allie gave him for it.

"Yeah 'cause of him!" Interrupted Floyd.

"But we all have to move on now." Continued Vaughan "Because we are all going to be living under the same roof."

"Oh God!" Justin sighed, also signing so that the message got through to Leo.

Floyd sat forwards slightly in his chair. "Vaughan?"

Vaughan looked over at his step son.

"What's with the weird spaghetti arms?" He asked whilst glaring at Justin.

Out of the corner of his eye, Floyd could see Justin's mouth open slightly into an 'O' shape.

"Um." Vaughan laughed slightly "It's not 'spaghetti arms!' it's sign language."

"Yeah, but why're you using it?" asked Tiffany this time.

"Well, you see, Leo is deaf; it's kind of like his own language. We use it so that he understands what it is we are saying." Vaughan tried hard to explain it.

Tiffany and Floyd both quickly bought their hands up over their mouths, turning slightly as if to then stare at Leo.

"What!?" Allie questioned "Why didn't you tell me?"

Justin secretly smiled; their marriage was already falling apart.

Leo watched, not knowing what was happening as his dad tried to explain something to Allie. He couldn't tell what was being said and that scared him, how did he know that they weren't all just laughing at him?

**So, what did you think? I was actually really excited to start writing this story, because when the episode started I did actually think at first that Leo was deaf (stupid, right!) **

**Anyway, you'll all be really pleased to hear that this is my last chapter that uses the actual waterloo road script! So, next time, it'll all be my own ideas. xxxxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello. I know that you probably all hate me, it's been over a year, and I'm so sorry. I really don't have an excuse, I just couldn't figure out what to say, but I promise you this – I will stay with you this time. I just hope that you can forgive me. This chapter takes place about a week after chapter two.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Waterloo Road or any related characters, only the plot of this story is mine. **

Chapter Three:

Vaughan was shouting. Leo knew that much. The angry look emblazoned on his face and the way he kept raising his arms gave it away. What he was saying, however, was still a mystery.

Every so often Leo caught a word or two, 'Justin' was one, and 'mum' and 'sorry' occurred a few times, but other than that he had no clue where the conversation was going. Even after fifteen years of lip reading, it was almost impossible for him to work out most of what people were saying.

Then Justin was shouting too. He threw a book at the wall, 'An Inspector Calls' noted Leo.

He looked around to see what everyone else was doing. Floyd was laughing, maybe because Justin was in trouble? And Allie was trying to mark some work. He didn't know where Tiffany was.

Leo pushed his hand into his pockets, feeling around for his hearing aids. They were still there. He guessed that his dad thought they worked or something, that they could work miracles. They didn't. They didn't do anything.

Sometimes he wondered whether his dad really understood his condition at all, yeah he learnt sign language, but he learnt French too, it didn't necessarily mean that Leo meant anything to him.

Justin pulled on his arm, literally dragging him out of his thoughts.

Leo could now see his dad blocking the door, his face angry. '_Leo' _he signed sternly, and Leo sadly took note on how his dad still signed his name as L-E-O, _'__tell him...' _

Leo didn't get to see the rest, because Justin was already pushing him past his dad, and Leo could feel his hands clawing into his back. Justin was angry.

….

_'__He doesn't care about me or you Leo.' _Justin signed as he and Leo sat on a bench in front of the sea.

Although they'd only been here a week, Justin knew that Leo liked it here. He liked the feel of the sea air on his face and the fresh salty air, but most of all, he knew that Leo liked being somewhere where he knew that he wasn't missing out on anything, where nobody would be talking and keeping him out of the loop.

_'__What?' _Leo replied, his eyebrows raised to signal a question.

Justin sighed _'__He wishes is was just him, Allie and her kids.' _He signed _'__not us'._

_'__How do you know that?' _Asked Leo.

_'__It's obvious.' _Was all Justin said before he stood up_ '__he doesn't even know your name.' _Justin signed. Then he walked away.

Leo supposed that Justin was right – their dad had been much happier before they'd arrived, but he was their dad, of course he loved them!

Then there was his name. Well signing name. It wasn't like it'd changed, it was still as it always had been _'__Lion'. _At first it was just because he was called Leo, but these days Justin tends to pin it to him being brave. Leo likes that reason more.

His dad should know it, Leo knew that, but maybe he'd just forgotten? Leo knew it was rubbish though, it was exactly the same as forgetting that he was called Leo or that Justin was called Justin, it would never happen.

But Justin hated Allie, all of this could be his way of turning Leo against her, he wanted to be back with their mum. Leo knew that Justin would never admit it, but he was scared here, scared because he didn't know anyone, scared that people would judge him.

….

_'__L-E-O?' _Tiffany signed later. Her signs were slow and muddled, even though it's only been three letters, but Leo was flattered, it showed she cared _'__dinner?'_

Leo guessed that the last part (and probably his name) weren't supposed to be questions, and that Tiffany was still confused with the new language, but he got the picture.

Leo smiled.

Everyone was quiet at dinner. Not that he'd notice if they were loud, but quiet as in no one even looked at each other. Except Allie and Vaughan.

They looked as if they were trying to coax everyone into starting a conversation, but they had no luck, Leo didn't have to be able to hear to know that Floyd and Justin hated each other.

But the food was nice. It was Spaghetti Bolognese, which was one of Leo's favourites.

He could see that Justin wasn't eating his and Leo knew that it was because he hated the tomato flavour, he always had, but there was no doubt that Vaughan would take it as an act of Justin's hate vendetta against Allie.

Tiffany looked at him as he stared at Justin. Leo liked her – she was nice, but he didn't like how she treated him as if he was made of glass.

Then again, at least she tried. Floyd had barely even come near him in the week that he had been staying at the Westbrook house, it was almost as if he was scared that straying to close would make him catch something off Leo.

And Allie. She tried to be nice, Leo knew that, but Justin hated her and that meant that Leo couldn't get to close to her either.

One thing that needed to happen for this family to work was communication. And not just talking, Leo hoped that they knew that.

**Ok, so I decided to make Leo's signing name 'Lion'. I know it isn't very creative, but I honestly couldn't think of anything. **

**I hope that you liked it, especially after I made you wait so long (honestly I am REALLY sorry about that) but please rate and review, I will be really grateful! And thank you for sticking with this story, because I know that I wouldn't have. :/**

**Thanks xoxo**


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